Building a gaming PC

T

Towel

New Member
So I want to build a new gaming PC and I already have some parts, would this be good at running all new games at maxed out settings and still play good?

Here's the list of items I want, some of which I already have. All of the items with a "-" in front of them means that I already have it.

-HAF 932 Case
Intel Core i5 2500k OC'd to 4.5Ghz
-Asus HD7970-DC2T-3GD5 Video Card
-Vengeance 12GB DDR3 RAM (3x4GB) - Need to add another 4GB stick for 16GB.
-Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 2G Sound Card
-OCZ "ZT SERIES" 650W PSU

As you can see, I've left some stuff out like the SSD/HDD, Motherboard, and the heat sink/fans. That is because I didn't know what to get because my sound card is only PCI and not PCI-E, and none of the boards I see have a normal PCI slot. I also need a PCI-E 3.0 for the graphics card, so I'd get a better performance out of it. A question for the i5 2500k is, would it overclock easily to 4.5 on air or would I have to go water cooled for it to not overheat? If not, what would you recommend for a good heat sink? And would I have to replace my stock case fans on the HAF 932 or would it be okay? I've heard that they are a bit loud.
 
Air would get to 4.5ghz easy. What is your budget for motherboard, SSD/HHD, and cooling?

And really, stick with your RAM. Only use 2x4GB sticks. New motherboards run on dual channel mode, and going to 16GB will not get you better settings in game.

Everything else looks good. A 2500k and 7970 is a good combo.
 
claptonman said:
Air would get to 4.5ghz easy. What is your budget for motherboard, SSD/HHD, and cooling?

And really, stick with your RAM. Only use 2x4GB sticks. New motherboards run on dual channel mode, and going to 16GB will not get you better settings in game.

Everything else looks good. A 2500k and 7970 is a good combo.
Click to expand...

Budget for a motherboard would be around $200 - $300, really anything that's good. And I already purchased a 3x4GB Vengeance, since new motherboards run dual channels, wouldn't I have to buy another one so that I could do dual, dual channel? I see that there are 4 RAM slots in every motherboard as opposed to my current computer with 6 RAM slots. :S My budget for the SSD would be around the same budget as the motherboard, something like a 120GB with 500 Read and 500 Write speed.
 
Okay, for the RAM, you can use two sticks for a total of 8GB and still run in dual-channel mode. Refer to your manual if you wanna do it this way, to see which slots link to each other. If you go for 16GB, you will populate all your slots and big coolers will not clear the RAM.

$200-300 is a lot for a motherboard. If you really want to spend that money, I'd go with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128549
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128552

All very good motherboards. Really, the reason people get good motherboards is so they can overclock further. Since you're only doing 4.5ghz, a cheaper board could get to that easy. Here are some cheaper, but still good ones:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128551

For the SSD, here's a good one with a great price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

And I'd suggest a good HDD with it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

For the cooler, my favorite are the Corsair H series. They're all-in-one water coolers. Very good performance, and they look awesome. Also allows you to use all RAM slots without moving up the fan. The H70 doesn't come with fans and the H80 does. I just like using my own fans:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181019
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181016

If those are too much or you don't want to do the water cooler, I'd suggest:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185168

Any of those coolers can get to 4.5ghz easy.
 
claptonman said:
Okay, for the RAM, you can use two sticks for a total of 8GB and still run in dual-channel mode. Refer to your manual if you wanna do it this way, to see which slots link to each other. If you go for 16GB, you will populate all your slots and big coolers will not clear the RAM.

$200-300 is a lot for a motherboard. If you really want to spend that money, I'd go with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128549
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128552

All very good motherboards. Really, the reason people get good motherboards is so they can overclock further. Since you're only doing 4.5ghz, a cheaper board could get to that easy. Here are some cheaper, but still good ones:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128551

For the SSD, here's a good one with a great price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

And I'd suggest a good HDD with it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

For the cooler, my favorite are the Corsair H series. They're all-in-one water coolers. Very good performance, and they look awesome. Also allows you to use all RAM slots without moving up the fan. The H70 doesn't come with fans and the H80 does. I just like using my own fans:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181019
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181016

If those are too much or you don't want to do the water cooler, I'd suggest:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185168

Any of those coolers can get to 4.5ghz easy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was looking at the G1 and I'll probably add that to my list of things to get, but I can't order anything online so I'll have to see if they have them in stock at CanadaComputers. I can't right now as their website is down for some unknown reason...
 
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